Left Behind
by Ttran2323
Summary: "How did this happen? It was just supposed to be a routine mission: go into village and eliminate all hostile Grimm. It should've been easy. How could things go that badly, so quickly?" ONESHOT


**RWBY belongs to the people who own it. The story however belongs to me since I wrote/typed it. And let it be known that I really wished I hadn't.**

* * *

**"Red Like Roses"**

"_How did this happen? It was just supposed to be a routine mission; go into village and eliminate all hostile Grimm. It should've been easy. How could things go that badly, so quickly?"_

A lone figure trudged through the dead forest. Snow fell but the only audible noise was the sound of snow being crushed under the person's heel. She, for it was a woman, moved quietly but with purpose. Her ensemble, a black and red combat suit that hugged her figure and a red cloak, flowed with the wind as she walked. But if one looked closely enough they would notice other pieces of cloth, ones that looked like they belonged to another outfit, only added haphazardly to the first outfit. The woman's thoughts started to drift as she remembered.

A band of white cloth hugged the upper portion of her face tightly, covering the scarring that ran alongside the entire right portion of her face.

* * *

_Weiss, her partner, had been the first to go. Every single one of them had thought something was off with the village as they walked along the streets but only Weiss was able to give voice to these thoughts. And by then it was too late._

"_Ruby, I don't think it's wise to stay here anymore. This place doesn't look like it's been attacked by the Grimm at all." As she continued to look around at the building, her eyes narrowed. "This looks more like an evacuation." Her eyes had suddenly widened at this point as something seemingly clicked in her mind. She had quickly turned toward me at that point and was yelling a warning. "We have to go! This entire thing is a t-"_

_Those had been her last words. A sniper rifle sounded and just like that, she was gone. A couple drops of blood landed on my face as I watched her fall. Weiss Schnee, my partner, had died without even being given the chance to fight._

_I remember seeing Blake recoil in shock._

_I remember hearing Yang curse from behind me._

_And I remember exactly what it was I had felt at the time. As I watched the pool of blood pour out of the hole in her head, I didn't feel shock. I didn't feel anger at the time either. I didn't even feel sad._

_All I had felt, as I continued to look at Weiss' dead eyes, was a cold numbness that encased my entire being._

* * *

Ruby lifted a hand to gently touch the side of her face that was covered by the white cloth.

"You always did see the world in a way I never could," she thought to herself as she walked toward her destination. "Maybe if we looked at it through your eyes that entire thing could've been prevented."

Her body still occasionally felt the pain. Every so often she'd feel the heat that had encompassed her body, from flames that had taken advantage of her numbness. She hadn't been able to fully protect herself in her moment of weakness and because of it, lost the vision of her right eye and a significant portion of her right arm had been burned as well.

Her eyes started to tear up and in an attempt to stop the tears raised her right arm to wipe them away. She only wound up bringing her mind to the topic of her arm, or more specifically, the black ribbon wrapped tightly underneath the protective gauntlet.

Sorrow filled her eyes as she remembered the event that had led to her being in possession of the ribbon.

* * *

"_Ruby, we need to regroup with Yang!"_

_Blake had gotten me out of the fire, clothing partially singed as a result of being caught in the same attack. It was at that point we both the heard the tell-tale signs of my sister's weapons in the distance. She was still fighting the good fight._

_We both started running. Even though I was naturally faster than Blake on a good day this was anything but. The burn wounds were starting to catch up to me even through the adrenaline. Blake saw this and was slowing her pace to allow me to keep up._

"_Blake," I said getting her attention, "You go on ahead. I can catch up later." I was slowing Blake down when she could easily get to Yang in minute. At the rate we were going it would take us ten._

"_Not gonna happen Ruby. We both know that Yang can take care of herself. You on the other hand, can't." She then pointed at my arms, "You can't even hold your scythe, much less defend yourself."_

_And she was right. After the first minute of running I had put Crescent Rose back on my back. I just simply couldn't hold it anymore. I knew she was right. My mind knew it as well. Even my body agreed with the statement. But it still hurt knowing I was being a burden after all this time._

_In our moment of talking we got attacked again, more specifically Blake was targeted._

_I can't remember exactly what happened but the distance between us had increased._

_I was right over the next hill where Yang was and Blake was just catching up to me._

_Unfortunately Blake got captured before she could reach me. Her eyes were wide with panic and, in a bid of desperation, tried to fire her weapon toward me. I instinctively used my right arm to grab it since it was closest._

_Utter agony. That's what overcame me as my arm protested holding onto the ribbon the gun was attached to._

_What felt like at least five minutes of pain was really only ten seconds. I didn't want to let go. I had already lost one teammate and I didn't want to lose another one._

_From what I could see on Blake's face, she was utterly terrified. She knew that I was in pain. But she also knew I wasn't going to let go._

_Then it happened._

_The ribbon snapped off her wrist._

_It happened so fast. One second, my entire body is strained to the breaking point. The next, flying backwards as I lost her._

_I remember hearing screams._

_I honestly don't know whether they belonged to me or Blake._

_I don't know how long I stayed there. All I knew at that point was that I was even more alone than before._

_Even more tears fell from my eyes as I clutched the last remaining link that I had of Blake; the ribbon that was still in my hand._

* * *

Her empty eyes looked upon the ribbon and then she spoke. Lines she had said to herself almost every day.

"I'm sorry Blake," Ruby whispered. "I know you wouldn't want me to blame myself for what happened. But I just can't. You were looking out for me. And you got killed because of it. And there was nothing I could've done to help"

Even to this day she still blamed herself for what happened. She knew she had tried her best. But it still hurt knowing that it wasn't enough.

She sighed as she shook off the sorrow.

She looked back toward the path. She was getting closer but she was still quite far from her destination.

Almost absentmindedly she brushed her left hand to hold onto the final link to her team.

A partially burned orange scarf wrapped around her shoulders.

Ruby's face took on a new level of grief as she remembered how it had come to be like that.

* * *

_I had reached the top of the hill and from there I could finally see my sister still fighting._

_Bodies were lying around everywhere. She was never one to hold back. It brought a small smile to my face knowing she was doing alright._

_I was brought out of my musings when I finally saw my sister. She was now running toward me. Definitely tired and a few bruises here and there but aside from that, she was perfectly fine._

"_There you are Ruby! I was afraid I had lost you for a moment." She was doing her best to keep a positive outlook despite the situation, especially as she looked at me. Her smile was definitely strained and she briefly hesitated as her eyes went over my right eye._

"_So… where's Blake? She was with you last I saw."_

_Oh._

_Wordlessly I brought the ribbon that was still held in my right hand. Her smile was gone, replaced by the sorrow I felt, only worse. While Blake was a teammate she was Yang's partner first and foremost. She brought her hand to hold the other end that I wasn't holding._

"_Wha- How did this happen?"_

_Before I could answer, another voice spoke out. "I did it." It was said with so much certainty that it made my blood boil._

_Evidently it made Yang's boil as well. Her eyes had immediately changed from lavender to blood red._

_Turning around we were faced with the sight of a woman standing inside of a harrier jet._

"_Your dear partner, am I right?" she mocked us from where she stood. "Ah the faces she made as we tortured her. I'll be savouring those for _quite_ some time." She then had the nerve to grin happily at the memory._

_I could already tell that Yang was beyond angry. Beyond livid. From what I felt she was feeling a simmering rage. One that border-lined on psychopathic._

_The woman's words interrupted my thoughts as she continued. "I wouldn't recommend stepping forward young lady." She brought out a device with a button on it. "If you leave that area, you won't be as affected by this next one."_

_Time froze as several things happened._

_Bombs primed all around us._

_Yang realized it as well. Her eyes now panicked as she looked at me. And ran right at me._

_The woman pressed the button. And Yang's Aura skyrocketed to levels I wasn't aware she could reach._

_Her protective flames encompassed us. And then everything around lit up._

_I'm honestly not sure what happened afterwards but when I woke up, Yang was still holding onto me. The entirety of her body taking most of the burn damage that she protected me from. _

_And unable to heal due to not having anymore Aura._

"_No... Yang..." I was alone. Weiss. Blake. Even Yang. They were all dead._

"_So you lived. Impressive."_

_My eyes went upwards as I saw the woman looking upon us._

"_And now the infamous Ruby Rose." Her hands reached behind her back and pulled out some sort of sniper rifle._

_I closed my eyes and waited for death. Waited for it to end. Waited to join my friends._

_It never came._

_Her transport was destroyed in a explosion. I heard people running up to me and as I turned toward them I realized they were reinforcements._

_And as the people gathered around me, I simply held onto my sister, my hands clenched around her scarf._

_Two things happened next._

_I realized I was going to live._

_And I cried until I passed out._

* * *

Ruby had at this point reached her destination. A cliff side peaked with snow. One with several graves situated on it.

She approached the first one. "Hey mom. Sorry it's been a while. Things have been busy lately. Just thought I'd say hi while I was here." Looking past the grave stone she continued, "I really hate to leave so soon but I didn't come to see only you."

Walking past it she walked in front of three graves. Each with an engraving on it.

_Weis__s __Schne__e – The__ Grateful Breath of Song_

_Blake Belladonna – When __Stars Are Weeping, I Fly_

_Yang Xiao Long – Burn When Night is Near_

"Hey girls... Sorry I'm not on time. Things held me up..."

And as daybreak approached, Ruby was still animatedly talking to the friends she missed.

* * *

**So... yeah. That was depressing. I had been tasked with writing a short story for my English class and wound up writing this. And now I'm utterly depressed about it. Why mind? Why would you immediately choose to write an angst? Anyway the ending was rushed mainly because I didn't want to continue writing anymore. Originally was gonna add other chapters where the next RWBY girl got left behind but I, to be frank, don't want to or wish to. So this is gonna be a oneshot.**

**If anyone cared, the engravings I added are also allusions to other Thomas Moore poems like Summer's gravestone. They are, in order:**

**• On Music**

******• **At the Mid Hour of Night

******• **Fly Not Yet

**Hurray for that. Now to sleep and hope I don't get sad nightmares.**

**Ttran, out!**


End file.
